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I just missed the prime cherry blossom season, but Arlington
Cemetery was within walking distance of my hotel. The weather was
beautiful. You can see the cherry blossoms on the ground under the tree.
Nice place to spend eternity. |
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Here's a picture from my room at night. You can see the
Washington Monument on the left side of the picture. I could also see the
Pentagon and the Lincoln Memorial. |
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Washington has a nice subway system. I would pick it up near
my hotel at the Pentagon City station (there was a hotel shuttle to get me
there). For $5 a day on the weekend you could go anywhere you wanted with
an all-day pass. It was clean, worked well, and was always on time. |
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There's some 200,000 soldiers buried at Arlington National
Cemetery. President Kennedy is here, as is his brother, Robert. |
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The grounds are beautifully manicured and kept green and
attractive for all of the visitors. This is a major tourist stopping point
in DC. |
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You see quite a diverse collection of headstones, ranging
from the simple (I'm sure government provided) to the ornate. |
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Here's a wonderfully detailed carving in the back of one
gentleman's headstone. I'd guess he was a WWI veteran. |
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Here's a view looking out towards the city and the
Washington Monument. You can see one of the headstones (on the right) is
meant to be a small replica of the 555' 5/8" original. |
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Here's the sharpest building angle in Washington, D. C. (and
I'd be surprised if any other building in the country ties it). This is
the National Gallery of Art. They have some nice collections, but I've
seen better. The building is nice though, and a wonderful venue for
displaying paintings and sculptures. |
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Here's another view of the Washington Monument as reflected
in the pool made famous by the scene in "Forrest Gump". This
really was an imposingly impressive structure, especially when you walk
right up to the base and look up towards the top.
See the lighter color of the facing stones at the bottom 1/3 of the
monument. That was due to a break in construction during the civil war. I
guess there was another supply of stone after that and they weren't able
to match the color too well. |
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Here's a reflecting image of folks walking along and viewing
the Vietnam Memorial. Look at all the names etched in the wall. 50,000
people sacrificed...what a price. |
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The Jefferson Memorial is certainly impressive when lighted
up at night. This is a view from the back of the monument. The front faces
a small lake. |
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Here's a display of nations flags in the Kennedy Center.
John F. was such a proponent of the arts that the city banded together to
put this structure up in his memory. Now they have various plays and other
performances here. |
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Here's the Lincoln Memorial. They have such dramatic
lighting here. Though you couldn't tell from this picture, the place was
crowded. You could have heard a pin drop though, everyone fell into
reverent silence when they entered. A few murmurs as they read his
speeches engraved on the walls, but that's all. |
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Here's a view of the outside of the Lincoln Memorial. That
was pretty much the end of my Washington trip. It was a wonderful
opportunity and I'm very glad I went on the tours. You always see these
things in the movies and on TV, but there's a certain nationalism in the
air when you're there in person (not that I'm recommending nationalism
though). |
